‘Why Is It Not Believable?’: Poppy Harlow Shuts Down CNN Guest Claiming Hunter Probe Is Unfair

CNN’s Poppy Harlow pushed back against Former Assistant U.S. Attorney Temidayo Aganga-Williams on Monday after he claimed that the probe into Hunter Biden is unfair.

Aganga-Williams and CNN Senior Legal Analyst Elie Honig were discussing the probe, with Honig slamming the Justice Department for making an “unholy mess” of the situation. Honig criticized U.S. Attorney David Weiss and argued that a pair of IRS whistleblowers raised legitimate questions about his handling of the investigation. Weiss was later appointed special counsel to continue overseeing the case.

Aganga-Williams, however, argued that Hunter Biden is “getting a harsher result because of his proximity to President Biden.”

“This entire process should always be about equal treatment for equally situated people,” Aganga-Williams said. “And here, Hunter Biden, more and more [it] appears if his last name were Smith, he would be out of this mess already. But because it’s Biden, it’s going deeper and deeper, and that’s a problem.”

The discussion then turned to the length of the five-year investigation, as Honig raised questions about Hunter avoiding felony charges despite owing over $1 million in taxes.

“That’s a decent deal for a defendant. I don’t weep for Hunter Biden,” Honig said. (RELATED: CNN Legal Analyst Blasts Biden DOJ For Making ‘Unholy Mess’ Of Hunter Probe)

“[Honig] is saying [Hunter] is being treated more leniently, and you think he’s being treated more harshly,” Harlow said, pointing to Aganga-Williams. “Can David Weiss continue as special counsel right now? A lot of Republicans are saying ‘no’ because he’s bungled this leading up to this.”

“I’ll leave that question to the DOJ. What I’m saying is that after five years and this level of resources spent, the idea that they have not overturned all there are to be overturned is just not believable. So the idea now that they would be ramping up and considering harsher charges, then potentially a trial, that’s seems troubling,” Aganga-Williams said, prompting pushback from Harlow.

“Can I ask you why it’s not believable when we have now two IRS whistleblowers who’ve testified before Congress, one of them came on this program, one of them is a self-proclaimed liberal, say there are avenues that weren’t even explored. So if you don’t go down the avenue, you don’t have a stone to turn over.”

“Well, I don’t have any visibility into the investigation, right?” Aganga-Williams answered. “But the suggestion, I believe, that they were getting at is whether there were avenues into President Biden. Now, if there’s evidence that —”

“I’m just talking about Hunter here,” Harlow interjected.

“If there is evidence that there were avenues to, for example, President Biden that weren’t pursued, sure. But I have not seen anything to support that,” Aganga-Williams continued. “And I think what’s important is to zoom out on Hunter Biden. With most white collar defendants, investigation goes forward, you find a wider way of misconduct. That’s not shocking. Meaning you often find tax issues here, perhaps a lie on a form here, that’s pretty common for federal prosecutors. But after five years, and a holistic view, prosecutors decide how do we get rid of this case? What is this case worth? David Weiss’ team did that. They made a plea deal, they made it harsher and now they’ve taken that away, which suggests they’re being influenced by something external and not by the facts and the law.”

Honig responded that Aganga-Williams’s point raised the question of why Weiss is being appointed special counsel now.